PREA

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, was a federal act implemented in September of 2003, to address sexual victimization in correctional settings. As part of this act, sites that become PREA certified are required “to carry out a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape for each calendar year”, as well as conduct routine audits of all sites to ensure ongoing compliance (Bureau of Justice Statistics,3/28/2016, http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=20 ).

Wellmore sought PREA certification in 2014 as part of the mandate that required that all community correctional facilities in Connecticut are PREA-certified. Wellmore works in collaboration with the State of Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) and the Court Support Services Division (CSSD) through two main residential programs, which are also considered community correctional facilities. The sites that were eligible for PREA certification included the Therapeutic Shelter and the Morris Recovery House. A full site audit was conducted for both and occurred on 12/22/2014. The initial audit yielded some corrective actions, which were immediately addressed, and the corrective action period ended on 2/22/2015. Both sites were approved as PREA-certified and will now enter into the routine audit cycle as mandated, which is scheduled to occur once per site every three years. Per PREA requirements, the audit results will be posted publicly as they occur.